I'll See You Soon
by Wendymypooh
Summary: Teaspoon and Rachel Hunter spend their last moments together before she dies.


I'll See You Soon….

By Wendy Mills

Copyright 2004

A sliver of purplish gray light drifted in through the crack between faded muslins curtains hanging at a second story window of a white clapboard house and illuminated a figure asleep in a rocking chair set before it. The weathered face of the elderly man was framed by long, thin silver hair. The man was dressed simply in a work worn blue shirt, mended denims and darned socks.

The room in which the elderly man sat was sparsely furnished with a high bureau, vanity table and stool, washstand with floral pitcher and basin, two small tables and a four-poster bed made of oak. Pale blue walls were adorned with a gilt framed mirror above the vanity, assorted children's drawings and a large tintype of the man and his wife on their wedding day. The top of the vanity and bureau were dotted with small-framed tintypes of family members, perfume bottles and pretty glass trinkets.

"Al?"

The name spoken was barely more than a breath escaping blue tinged lips in an ashen face. Laugh lines edged long lashed green eyes dulled with pain and weariness was framed by wisps of tousled strawberry-blonde hair streaked liberally with strands of white. The aged face was all that was visible of the frail, disease stricken body buried beneath a mound of faded quilts.

"Aloysious?"

The longer version of the man's name was spoken louder, yet remained only a whisper, but it was enough to depict that its owner was feminine, instead of masculine. A rough wheezing sound attached itself on the tail end of the whisper and was quickly followed by a wracking cough that shook the woman's body with such ferocity that the entire bed shook.

"Teaspoon?"

Where she had received no answering response to her two previous attempts at awakening the slumbering form of her husband sleeping in the rocking chair beside her sickbed had failed, the mere mention of the familiar moniker that he had been dubbed with by friends years earlier, got her the appropriate response. An affectionate smile played across her blue lips as she watched his eyes fluttered open. It took Aloysius "Teaspoon" Hunter, all but a moment to come fully awake and realize that there were eyes upon him.

"Mornin' sweetheart." He said softly, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss upon her lips and thread his hand through her beautiful hair that ended in a soft caress of her chin. "How ya feelin'?"

"I'm no worse than I was yesterday, but I ain't any better either." Came the hoarse reply. "Much as it pains me to admit it. My time is near. How I ache at the thought of leavin' ya behind."

"And how I ache to see ya go without me." Teaspoon replied, his own voice gruff with emotion.

"Teaspoon, I want to thank ya. For takin' a chance on me so long ago, when ya hired me on to replace Emma after she and Sam were hitched. Ya knew nothin' about me, an' even when ya found out that I was wanted for murder, ya did not turn me over to the men huntin' me. Instead, ya, Lou, an' the boys helped me clear my name. " The words were choked out between gasps of breath and intervals of more coughing.

Without being asked, Teaspoon rose from the rocking chair and moved over to the bureau where a water pitcher and a glass set upon a tray. He filled the glass up to the rim with water and moved back over to the bed, temporarily setting the glass onto the bedside table long enough for him to help his wife up into a sitting position and then retrieved the glass and held it for her as she took small sips. He pretended not to see the steady stream of water that dribbled out of her mouth as she drank, though it elicited pain within his heart to see his darling wife in such an incapacitated state.

Rachel had always been filled with such vitality and inner strength. She had carried a natural grace about her despite the hardships she had known most of her life. He had been impressed with her from the first moment he laid eyes upon her. She had stood tall and proud as she inquired about the housekeeping notice she had found in Tompkins' store. She had not kept her eyes downcast or focused on his shoulder or somewhere else in the room as he had asked her to list her qualifications for the job. When they had later found out that, she was a wanted fugitive, and that she had not been completely honest with them, he and the rest of the members of their Pony Express family had not held it against her. Instead they had protected her, helped her clear her name of the murder charges that had been falsely made against her. It had been the last secret she ever kept from him. He had known right away that his instincts had been correct when she had quickly put an end to the infatuated glances and advances of their 'boys' by laying down a foundation of rules right away for them to follow. And amazingly enough, the 'boys' had all responded well to her rules and had since grown to respect and view her as an adopted older sister, mentor and confidant.

His own admiration for Rachel had grown considerably over the years that had followed. After the Pony Express had ended and the other members of their unusual family had all gone their separate ways, only he and Rachel had been left in Rock Creek. Rachel had been hired on full time as the schoolteacher, the citizens of Rock Creek quickly forgetting their initial protestations to her instructing their children, had faded away. He had continued on as the Sheriff of the town until he had taken a bullet in the lungs that had nearly done him in. It was during his recuperation, when Rachel had so tenderly cared for him, that he had realized that his feelings for her had deepened into more than admiration. When he had finally gathered up the courage to tell her how his feelings had changed for her, he was pleasantly surprised to learn her feelings for him had changed as well.

Their ceremony had been simple, but nonetheless heartfelt. It had been just the two of them standing before the minister and his wife, dressed in their Sunday best and uttering the appropriate words of the ceremony when prompted by the preacher. Though the words were familiar, Teaspoon felt as if for the first time he understood their full depth and vowed to always honor Rachel for all of his days. Not more than a year, after they were wed Rachel had surprised him with the glorious words that she was pregnant. He had pondered the reality of his possibly not being there for most of his child's growing years to come, and then set it aside to rest in the hands of the Lord. There was no sense in his borrowing trouble where there was none.

Sariah Rae Hunter had arrived on a beautiful spring day, two days after his birthday the following year and wrapped her proud papa around her tiny finger the moment he had set eyes on her. The day was made even pleasanter because Lou, Kid, Buck, and Cody and their families had popped up for an unplanned, but welcomed visit to celebrate his birthday.

Now Sariah was grown and with a family of her own. Teaspoon could hear the sounds of children playing quietly in the outer rooms of his and Rachel's small home. When Rachel had first fallen sick, he had not felt the need to alert Sariah of her Ma's illness at first. Both of them had been sick before and had gotten better by following the Doc's instructions and letting the other tend to them…Teaspoon had believed that this would have been the case this time with Rachel too…Only he had been wrong. Fluid had settled into his beloved's lungs, and nothing the Doc had done seemed to work on making Rachel well again. Instead, she only continued to worsen, and reluctantly the Doc had had to concede defeat and tell Teaspoon that Rachel did not have many more days left upon the Earth.

It had taken quite some time for Teaspoon to wrap the news of his beloved wife's imminent death around his brain. His brain refused to believe what his eyes clearly showed him, and his heart stubbornly tried to deny it. When he had finally come to terms with it, he had gone straight to the telegraph office to send messages to Sariah and Logan, Kid and Lou, Cody and Louisa, Buck and Songbird, and given them the sorrowful news that they would all be losing Rachel soon.

Kid, Lou, and their small brood of young ones had been the first to arrive, since they lived the closest to the older couple. Buck and Songbird had arrived a few days later, not having even received the telegraph that Teaspoon had sent to the small community post office that Buck made weakly treks from the small Kiowa encampment on the outskirts of it. That first night Buck had told his Pony Express family of the vision he had of Teaspoon and Rachel needing him, and not knowing what he would find when he arrived in Rock Creek, had packed up his own family for the trip. Sariah and Logan, Cody and Louisa had met up on connecting train lines and spent the rest of their journey to Rock Creek being reacquainted with one another.

"Ssh, love; it's I who should be thankin' ya. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without ya in it. Ya've been the best wife a man could ever have…puttin' up with all my eccentricities, forgivin' my faults, blessin' me with our beautiful girl, and lovin' me through it all. Rachel Hunter, I don't rightly think that this old ticker of mine is goin' to survive losin' ya." Teaspoon told her, his eyes welling up with tears that he made no move to wipe away from his face. He leaned forward and planted a kiss upon her dry chapped lips.

"Ya old fool," Rachel, whispered affectionately, her brown eyes moist with tears. She reached up and stroked the length of his strong, grizzled jaw with one trembling hand. "I love ya."

Her hand slipped from his face, and in the brief moment it took for it to fall, Rachel's eyes closed and Teaspoon felt her sweet soul slip away from him.

"I'll see ya soon honey," Teaspoon whispered, kissing her tenderly, one last time, his heart shattering into a million pieces as he bid his precious wife goodbye.

He set beside her for quite some time, stroking her hair and caressing her face, all the while silent tears streamed down his wizened face. When he at last felt he had some control over his emotions, he rose from his chair and moved toward the door to deliver the news that his Rachel was finally at peace to their eclectic family waiting in the outer rooms.


End file.
